Where do you find inspiration and ideas for your cooties and fleas? I would like to create a couple and just cannot think of what to carve.

~Aurora

I had a bunch of stamps I carved laying around so I made them into cooties/fleas. My dad carved a comb and called it Cootie Comb lol. I just carve what I want and then find containers they fit in.

I try to think of small things that move, maybe do a search on cooties or fleas and see what has inspired others.


PB

Thanks for the suggestions. I am just at a loss, don't wanna copy someone else but just need ans idea or theme to run with. Off to google...

~Aurora

I did a whole bunch of things that started with "C"... checkers, carmen sandeigo, crown, czar, campus, whatever...

I've done a lot of other cooties, too... I have a whole set that is alphabet letters carved into pencil erasers, things glued to clothespins (clip-on cootie),

ANYTHING can be a cootie! (ask anyone on my exchange lists about my cooties...they have now travelled far and wide)

night writer

I did a whole bunch of things that started with "C"... checkers, carmen sandeigo, crown, czar, campus, whatever...

funny you should mention checkers. That is the cootie I have in my possession that is the reason for this thread. =)

I like the letter theme.

~Aurora

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Where do you find inspiration and ideas for your cooties and fleas? I would like to create a couple and just cannot think of what to carve.

I like them to have a theme or meaning - something other than just a cootie.

For example, for one of my gatherings, I got a dozen pencils and some of those triangular eraser caps. I carved little cooties into the eraser caps, sharpened the pencils, and put them on the table. So, when people grabbed a pencil to write in their log, they got cootied. <eg>
The stamps were grouped:
Moe, Larry, & Curly (faces)
Whole wheat bread, PB, J, white bread
and Itchy, Skritchy, & Scratchy (funny little single-celled germy faces)

3H

and some of those triangular eraser caps.

Oh geez, I never would have thought to carve those. But, they are erasers =)

I like this learning stuff =D!

~Aurora
The hicks from the sticks

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and Itchy, Skritchy, & Scratchy (funny little single-celled germy faces)

I have Skritchy in my possession right now. Ready to be "distributed" at Ohio's All-Military Event on November 10.

I have a series of cooties called: Cootie Food
I have a series of cooties called: Cootie Toys
and I havea series of cooties called: Cootie Pets
..so fun:)

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I have Skritchy in my possession right now. Ready to be "distributed" at Ohio's All-Military Event on November 10.

Oh, how cool! :oD Thanks for posting that - it's so neat to hear about how far the little guys have traveled.

I really like that series. I forgot to mention in my previous post that the series is called: "Go Ahead...Erase Me." Tee hee!

3H

got a dozen pencils and some of those triangular eraser caps. I carved little cooties into the eraser caps, sharpened the pencils, and put them on the table. So, when people grabbed a pencil to write in their log, they got cootied

Very cute idea!!! I have lots of those erasers here at my desk and an exacto knife. How did you carve the erasers? did you cut off the point to make it flat or did you carve on one side?
Need to make lots of cooties for the Table!!!

Dawn

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Very cute idea!!! I have lots of those erasers here at my desk and an exacto knife. How did you carve the erasers? did you cut off the point to make it flat or did you carve on one side?

Thanks! :o) I imagine you could use an xacto (I'm not good at that) - I just used my carving tool. I carved a negative image into one of the flat sides of the eraser. You could carve an image on both sides, if you wanted.

Have fun!

3H

::giggling as I type:: I'm not good with an xacto either, but it's all I have here at work and the boss just left for awhile, so I have some time to carve!!! After all, I must stay busy.
Be back in a second or two, gotta go raid everyone else's offices down the hall for erasers!!! :) ooohhh...what fun to do naughty things....especially on Halloween!!!

muhahahahah,
Dawn

My inspiration comes from the candy aisle - thanks Lock Wench - I look at all that cleverly packaged candy in those cool containers... ditch the candy and I have a clever container for cooties. I had a baseball and bat inside a baseball for Kites... then for FN3 I had 'pigskin thru the uprights' in a football... I have a record player box waiting, a Mario video box waiting, too many Easter eggs to count that look like ladybugs, dino, etc... Jelly Bellies has their beans in soda bottles - and my Root Beer cootie is floating around somewhere.

So much fun!
mff

Candy containers are great, but so are pill boxes. If it is empty, small and has a lid, it gets turned into a cootie at my house.

I have several comments and questions.

1.) Inspiration: for cooties, I use, for inspiration, things that are LIKE a cootie; something small, something annoying, something that travels (either from person to person, or otherwise) something contagious, and something that kids would think would transfer "cooties" in the classic sense.

2.) Inspiration: I think that thematic cooties are the best; I mean, if Bob makes all his cooties based on forms of bureaucrat, I think that is just too neat. Loving it.

3.) Cootie problems: Do you all find that all the cooties in your area end up getting "junked?" I guess the letterboxer population, here, is small, which would cause that. Any way of telling when it's too much, cootie-wise? And Any ideas on prevention of junking?

4.) Cootie ideas: I think the idea of fleas is nice; what other types of cootie-like item are there? Did someone mention "kites?" What are they?

5.) Potential innovation: I suggested to a fellow letterboxer that I could create a cootie which included a cuckoo clue for a box. She said that was a bad idea. Does anyone else agree? Or, if it's a problem for a traditional box, what kind of box would it NOT be a problem for?

6.) I made a cootie out of an Altoid tin, and someone told me that cooties are supposed to be something small, attached to a box clip, so you can clip it to someone's person; not a box placed in a purse (which is what I did). Is this wrong?

7.) Flea query: If I'm making a flea, is an altoid tin small enough? How about a prescription bottle? Or should I just put it in a bag, so it can "flex?" Flexibility might make it fit into boxes, easier....

8.) parasites: that's a hitchhiker on a hitchhiker? Could there be a cootie parasite?

9.) any other good ideas on cooties?

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funny you should mention checkers

seems i have seen one of those checker cooties someplace or another........ ;}

condo

2.) Inspiration: I think that thematic cooties are the best; I mean, if Bob makes all his cooties based on forms of bureaucrat, I think that is just too neat. Loving it.

I usually think of 1 items at a time. The from that, springs a whole series of 5-8 or so. Then I chill for a while until another muse arrives.

5.) Potential innovation: I suggested to a fellow letterboxer that I could create a cootie which included a cuckoo clue for a box. She said that was a bad idea. Does anyone else agree? Or, if it's a problem for a traditional box, what kind of box would it NOT be a problem for?

I saw exactly what you are describing. It was called a "clue-tie". It was clipped onto someone's shirt and had a clue inside.

6.) I made a cootie out of an Altoid tin, and someone told me that cooties are supposed to be something small, attached to a box clip, so you can clip it to someone's person; not a box placed in a purse (which is what I did). Is this wrong?

Dropped into an open and unattended purse is fine with me.

My theory is that cooties are perfect for curing that "carving itch". Especially when I cannot find the perfect carve or the time to devote to a really good box.

seems i have seen one of those checker cooties someplace or another........ ;}

Ha-Ha-Ha I wonder where it went?!

~Aurora

Cooties did NOT start out with clips. They started out in little tin boxes that were about 1/4th the size of an altoids box.

Maiden

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Cootie problems: Do you all find that all the cooties in your area end up getting "junked?"

I think getting 'junked' has always been part of a Cootie's life. They are often made with a person, or an event in mind. So long as they have been enjoyed by the person/people that were the initial target then anything else is a bonus.

A lot of people get worried about what to do with Cooties, when will they ever be able to pass them on? I think this is unnecessary, if they can be passed on great, if not you have been the target of a bit of fun, enjoyed them and that is the end of the story. No great worries.

YT

I think getting 'junked' has always been part of a Cootie's life. They are often made with a person, or an event in mind. So long as they have been enjoyed by the person/people that were the initial target then anything else is a bonus.

Well, maybe-- but it's pretty cool to see them get around too. Naughty Cootie has been coast to coast! He started in NC, went to CO and is now in VA. He's been infecting people with naughtiness for 2 years now!

Whew...not just me, then. Thanks, all.